“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.”–Irving Penn
Since 1985 and every couple of years, the Museum of Modern Art here in New York explores contemporary photography as part of their “New Photography” series. What started under John Szarkowski remains a vibrant offering today. The current exhibition, “Being: New Photography 2018″ is no exception. I was delighted to see the show and to encounter the striking work of photographer Aïda Muluneh.
Ms. Muluneh is of Ethiopian descent, but is truly an internationalized person, having grown up most of her life in diverse countries, not the least of which being the USA, including a degree from Howard University. She is a trained photojournalist and is also founder/director of the Addis Foto Fest. But above all these things, including her activism, Ms. Muluneh is a photographer who embraces all the possibilities of the medium.
Her series “The World is 9″ opens MoMA’s exhibition. The potent colors and stylized models are only the surface. Much is being signified through the colors, the gestures, the clothing, the body paint. Beneath the striking images, though, Ms. Muluneh is provoking us to ponder the fundamental questions: what is beauty? what is my role? what mask do I wear? who am I in an uncertain world? what makes us human?
While the sixteen other artists in MoMA’s New Photography exhibition explore various themes and ideas with their unique approaches, I found myself returning to the work of Ms. Muluneh because it is, in a word, effective. –Lane Nevares
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